Priest -- Ken Bruen

You didn't expect me to wait until next year to find out what's going on with Jack Taylor, did you? Of course not. I bought the British paperback at Murder by the Book the other day and read it the following evening.

I wasn't at all sure how Jack was going to survive the terrible event that concluded The Dramatist. Now I know, but I'm not going to tell you. You'll have to buy Priest to find out. But survive Taylor does, and he's asked to investigate the beheading of a priest. There's abuse of children involved, and Jack has other problems as well. A young man named Cody wants to be his partner in the p.i. business. Ridge is being stalked. Jeff and Cathy, devastated by the death of their daughter, are on Jack's mind and conscience. They both turn up, and Cathy threatens Jack's life.

There's an REM song that Jack mentions often, "Hurt." Jack seems to prefer the Johnny Cash rendition, but the words are the same: "I will let you down. I will make you hurt." Anybody who associates with Jack should take those words to heart. They might as well have been written about him.

You might think (or hope) that this will be the time that Jack sees a light at the end of the tunnel. As usual, if he does, it's just a will o' the wisp, luring him on into an even deeper darkness. The end of Priest leave a number of questions unanswered, but it's just as terrible for Jack as the ending of The Dramatist, if not more terrible. Now I'll have to wait another year to find out what happens to him next.